The Morning After
by Velvet Curse 2
Summary: Yugi wakes one morning to find himself in bed with Yami after a particularly strange night, or he thinks it was... he can't quite remember.
1. Chapter 1: Waking and Confusion

Chapter one: Waking and Confusion

Yugi opened his eyes a crack and then closed them again. Not that the room was all that light but he felt warm and safe and opening his eyes fully would mean admitting that he was awake and had to get up. He turned his head slightly on the pillow and pulled the heavy duvet more tightly around his shoulders. The warmth coming from behind him made him feel relaxed and he pressed back against the chest there, feeling the soft rise and fall of the others breathing against his spine. His hazy, sleep filled mind only registered comfort and not anything out of the ordinary, and he rolled over to snuggle against this chest. His nose detected a familiar scent and his arm wound limply around the others hips, drawing him closer and making him share his warmth.

Yugi felt the other stir slightly, his strong arms wrap around his shoulders and his chin come to rest against Yugi's head. He sighed contentedly, stroking the skin under his fingers, which must have been the others lower back and nuzzling against the chest his cheek was now lay against.

It began to dawn on him as he gradually woke that this shouldn't be possible because he was in the bed alone and so couldn't be snuggling against somebody. He cracked an eyelid to see black and pink hair down the nape of a neck, wondering at how strange his own hair looked. Then he almost snapped awake instantly; that couldn't be his own hair because he couldn't be looking at the nape of his own neck and, strange as his hair was, there was one other who had hair just like his. Yami, his friend from the Millennium Puzzle, the person who had seen him through all the difficult times and always been there for him no matter what.

Yugi grabbed at his own neck in search of the puzzle before remembering that he always took it off to sleep in case he lay on it during the night. Of course, he didn't really need to wear it now, as Yami was his own person and didn't reside there anymore, but it was almost like a good-luck charm for Yugi and he still wore it every day. Right now it wasn't the puzzle he need worry about, but the person that had come from it, and Yugi wondered if Yami even knew where he was, if he was even awake.

Yugi could feel his cheeks getting hotter and more scarlet as the seconds passed and wondered how exactly they had gotten into this position. Surely Yami hadn't intended this, surely it was all a big misunderstanding, or perhaps even a dream, maybe he hadn't actually woken, maybe he had just dreamt he had.

He lifted his head slightly and felt the arms around his shoulders loosen a little to allow him the movement. He still had his eyes closed, hardly daring to look up in case Yami was awake but he would have to look eventually and the longer he left it, the worse things would be when he did look.

Slowly he opened his eyes to peer up into the face looking down on him. Yami was wide-awake and must have been watching him the whole time. He had a slight smile at the edge of his lips and his eyes were glistening as if he'd seen something he found to be very interesting. Yugi could feel his cheeks burning as he fumbled around in his own mind for something to say that wouldn't sound entirely stupid, but Yami beat him to it.

"Did you sleep well?" the question was asked so innocently that Yugi wondered briefly if Yami saw nothing wrong with this situation.

"Well… yes," he had slept so well that he hadn't even realised what was going on, "but can I asked you something Yami?"

"Of course," Yugi watched Yami settle back against the pillows, obviously ready for a long explanation of the question which hadn't yet been asked and look back at him patiently as he waited.

"Well, not to sound rude or anything, but what are you doing in my bed? Your own is perfectly good and I just wondered."

"Well, now that is an interesting question, but I seem to be having as much of a problem as you of explaining it," he looked off into the distance as he pondered this question but seemed to come up with nothing of any value. He could see Yugi's cheeks growing redder as he pondered over it and smiled languidly at how cute that made him look, "I don't remember getting home last night actually. I remember going out but not getting home."

"Going out…?" the realisation hit Yugi that they _had _in fact gone out last night. It was supposed to have been a night out with everybody at a club but hadn't turned into that at all. They had gone round to Taya's to meet everybody there as promised and found everybody with drinks already in their hands and quite happy to stay where they where, "yes, we went to Taya's and everyone wanted to stay there so we did."

"Yes that's right," Yami seemed very unconcerned over this whole incident and Yugi wondered if he was overreacting, did it really matter that they had shared the same bed for one night? After all they had shared the same body for years.

Yugi sighed, deciding to let the subject drop, and climbed from the bed. He walked to the mirror that hung on one of his walls, a huge, full length mirror bordered in mahogany wood, and looked at himself assessing what damage the night before had done. His hair was a little out of place, but a good combing would sort that out, but apart from that he looked like he had had a good nights sleep and looked rather refreshed. Perhaps sleeping with Yami was good for him. But no sooner had he thought that comment than his cheeks were scarlet again and he bowed his head to let the colour fade before finding a brush and pulling it through his hair until it was back in place again. He was assessing this in the mirror; making sure every last strand was in place, when he caught site of something on his right shoulder. He brushed at it absently to remove it but it wouldn't move and he felt sure it had ached just a little when he touched it. Upon looking more closely he realised it was a bruise, a deep purple coloured circular bruise, right where someone taller than him would kiss if they wanted to kiss his neck. His knees almost gave out from under him and his cheeks must have glowed with colour, had Yami…? But he couldn't remember and neither could the pharaoh. He turned and snatched up the first black shirt that came to his hand, it had just been lying at the foot of the bed, and swung it round his shoulders. Yami looked up at him, one eyebrow raised slightly and an unusual expression on his face.

"You do realise that's mine don't you?" he stuck his finger out to point at the shirt Yugi now had wrapped round him.

"Erm… I'm sorry," he hesitated to take it off, how could he get out of this one and into his own without Yami seeing the mark?

"That's alright, if you want to wear it then do, but I don't think I'll fit into yours so I'll just have to do without."

Yugi's eyes widened at that, he had liked Yami for a while, that being the reason why he wanted so much to know what had gone on the night before, and that thought almost made him choke on his own breath. Yami walking round topless in his room, the thought was playing through his mind and he had to think of something else before he embarrassed himself further. But that was just it, Yami saw him as a friend but did he really see him as anything more? Yugi thought not, meaning that, drunk or not, he would probably not have slept in the same bed as him, which left the fact that Yugi may have been the one to initiate that, to initiate everything that happened the night before whatever that had been, and he couldn't remember any of it. The thought occurred to him that if he could piece the night together little by little he could probably remember what went after it, and to do that he would have to talk with the others. The best place to try first would be Taya's considering that it was her house they had invaded, so he would have to go over.

Yami must have noticed him puzzling over something and misunderstood, "Look I really don't mind you wearing it, it's really not that big of a decision to make."

"It's not that," Yugi answered, making the decision to take off Yami's shirt in case it had other side effects from the scent coming off it and replacing it with his own, "besides you're going to need it."

"What for?" Yami's eyes went wide as he noticed the mark on Yugi's shoulder, little else about the whole morning had puzzled or shocked him, but that seemed to completely baffle him.

"We're going to go to Tea's to see if I can figure out what happened last night. I want to know just what happened and where…" he stuttered and went quiet.

"Where you got that from?" Yami pointed, his long finger reaching towards the collar of his own shirt and hooking it to drag over and put on as he did so. He watched as Yugi's cheeks coloured again and wondered just how many times that had happened in the one morning. He was sure that mark hadn't come from him, he would have remembered that, as he remembered most of the previous night, but Yugi would have to work to find out what went on, even though what did go on was nothing but sleep he was absolutely certain of that.

Yugi had managed to dig one of his own shirts out in the meantime and completely dress himself, Millennium Puzzle and all by the time Yami had finished his train of thought and gotten out of bed to dress himself. This was going to be an amusing day even if nothing came of it, he was sure of that.

**A.N. Thank you for reading, I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. Please review the more I get the faster I'll be motivated to update.**


	2. Chapter 2: Start

_**Tavia454 – Yes he was pretty drunk and rather keen to know what happened too **__****__** haha glad you like it.**_

_**Kuan5555 – You know I forgot I'd actually posted any of this ; since you were kind enough to review and it reminded me I shall post the next chapter right away for you **__****__** happy reading.**_

Chapter two: Start 

Yugi had bolted downstairs, wolfed down a piece of toast at the counter and was putting his shoes on by the time Yami walked down the stairs. He looked over at him amusedly and sat on a stool in the kitchen to leisurely eat his breakfast. He didn't see any point to rushing as Tea probably wasn't out of bed yet anyway.

Looking back over his shoulder, Yugi noticed that Yami was taking his time over things and stood, walking over to him to encourage him to be a little faster. He was hopping from one foot to another by the time Yami decided he had finished and strolled over to find his shoes. If Yugi got any more desperate he was likely to just bolt for the door on his own, Yami thought amusedly.

"I need to know what happened," Yugi said hurriedly as he saw the look of amusement on Yami's face.

"Yes," he looked over at Yugi understandingly, "as do I. But rushing around without thinking isn't going to get us anywhere. Tea is probably still in bed if I know her, so getting there in five seconds flat isn't going to do us any more good than strolling down there at our leisure will."

Yugi contemplated this for a few moments before sighing, "You're probably right… but I do need to know how you ended up in my bed, and this is the only solution I can come up with. If you don't remember," he looked over at him searchingly but Yami was just listening patiently, "and I don't remember, then who better to ask than Taya considering it was her house."

Yami nodded slowly, "Although I do seem to recall lying on a Persian rug at one point."

"Tea doesn't have a Persian rug Yami," Yugi looked at him in confusion.

"Yes I'm aware of that," he looked to be contemplating something, "but Bakura does… so if I was lying on a Persian rug at some point in the night that would suggest that we didn't stay at Tea's all night."

"So we went to Bakura's for a little while, that's fine, we still started at Tea's and logic suggests that that would be a good place to start. If we're lucky we might even find somebody who didn't drink who remembers the whole night."

Yami scoffed, "Not very likely Yugi."

"Yes you're probably right," Yugi smirked knowing his friends, "but anything is worth a try, and standing around here talking about what can be done and what can't isn't going to get us anywhere, even if Tea is still in bed don't you think it would a good idea for us to get going? We can't help anything stood here conjecturing."

Yami nodded, they might as well set out and see what it is they could find. Yugi was right, no point in idle thought when neither of them knew, or would let on, what had happened the night before.

As soon as Yami stood Yugi sprang for the door. He didn't even wait for Yami to join him before he was out and up the path leading to the street. Yami caught up with him idly, his legs being longer it didn't take much effort, and set to stride along beside him as Yugi walked and thought. He couldn't seem to get over the fact that they had shared a bed for the night, but then, maybe it was more than that, after all, Yugi didn't know what had happened, and thus couldn't imagine what had actually brought about that turn of events.

Yami picked a small yellow flower for the large overhanging bushes of a garden as he walked past. He twirled it between thumb and index finger and silently contemplated how this would all turn out. Once they reached Tea's the story would have a start and he knew that more than one story was likely to be told in the telling of this one. He was aware that more than one unexpected thing had happened last night and probably this would all come to light when the story had begun, but did one drunken night really amount to much? Things had happened last night that he knew, taken seriously, could form or break bonds beyond anything any of them had conjectured before this whole thing had started.

It wasn't even that he wanted to make things hard for Yugi, more he was interested in the whole story himself. He knew exactly how and why they had ended up sleeping in the same bed, that being all it had been, but he also vaguely remembered other things that slipped and eluded his memory so much that he needed an explanation for them himself.

He watched Yugi turn up Tea's drive and bolt hurriedly up to the door, ringing the bell so many times it wouldn't have mattered if Tea had still been in bed, he would have woken her anyway. Luckily it seemed that Tea had already been up, as she answered the door within seconds of them ringing and admitted them to the comfortable sitting room, which she must have cleaned since last night as it was again spotless.

"Can I help you boys?" she looked from one to the other, Yami settling back against the comfortable sofa and Yugi sat on the edge of it as if he would jump up and leave at any given second.

"Well…" Yugi didn't seem to know how to phrase the question he wanted so much to ask, "we came here last night instead of going out didn't we?"

"That's right," Tea nodded and leant back in her chair, "we were all supposed to be going out, but by the time you two showed up everyone was quite settled here, and with plenty of alcohol to go around there was no need to leave. Why do you ask?"

"Well you see…" Yugi's cheeks went crimson at this and he faltered before continuing, "When we woke this morning, we were both in my bed. Now neither of us remembers how or why and we thought if we could get you to recount the night as best you can remember it we might be able to piece together what actually happened."

Tea gave Yami a searching look at this but dropped the comment before it was made, "You did? That's very amusing," she smiled, "but alright, I don't' remember some of it myself but I'll tell you what I do know and maybe it will help."

"Thank you, we do appreciate it," Yugi eventually managed to sit back against the sofa and curl his legs under him to listen.

"Well everything that happened before you got here was just the usual. Everyone arrived and we knew you would be turning up late as you had told us that your grandpa wanted some help in the shop so we decided having a drink just to get us going would be a good idea. It was actually Joey who, after a little while, suggested that we needn't go anywhere because my house was much more comfortable than any club we could possibly find, so that was already decided before you even arrived.

"After you did turn up, we explained this to you and all settled down in here for a drink and a chat, do you remember it so far?"

"Yes I remember that part," Yugi nodded, "I remember getting here and you saying we were stopping. I remember sitting down next to Bakura and asking how he was, getting handed a drink and settling down, after that I don't remember a thing."

"You don't hold your alcohol very well do you?" Tea raised her eyebrow but didn't comment further, "anyway, yes you sat with Bakura and got through a vodka and coke in record time I'd say. After that I remember Joey standing up and walking to the centre of the room.

"'Does anybody else feel that we need to be doing more than sitting and talking?' he asked, looking around the room for some inspiration.

"'Probably,' Ryu looked up, half-interested and flicked at some imaginary bit on the carpet, 'what are you suggesting we do?'

" 'Well…' Joey contemplated this for a few seconds, 'is anyone up for truth or dare?'

" Everyone shook their heads and turned away, obviously not drunk enough to go for that sort of game just yet and went back to their respective conversations. Joey then went into the kitchen and came out with more alcohol and a few straws, 'Ok then, what do you say to a drinking game?'

"This seemed to interest people more, especially Tristan, who we all know can hold his alcohol better than anyone. We all sat round in a circle and looked at each other.

" 'So what sort of drinking game do you suggest we play?' I looked up at Joey, nominating him as organiser of this as he was the one who had suggested it in the first place.

" 'Well," he thought about it for a few moments, 'we could play poker? Instead of strip poker, you can bet with amounts of drink, all have to be downed obviously.'

" 'That could work…' Bakura looked up from what he had been doing, 'apart from the fact that I don't know how to play poker.'

" 'Me either actually,' you looked around and admitted it.

" 'Well alright then,' Joey thought again for a little while, 'we can spin a bottle and who ever it lands on is the one to down a shot, that way it's not unfair because it's completely random. Once you can't drink anymore you back out of the circle and the last one in wins.'

" 'That sounds fair,' Mai looked over at Joey and smiled, 'I'm in.'

" 'Settled then,' Joey got about pouring some shots to be downed in the first few rounds whilst the rest of us found an empty bottle and sat in a fairly even circle so nobody had an unfair advantage.

"The game was a hit for all of about an hour before Yami was the one to point out that if anyone was going to win this it was going to be Tristan as he was the best drinker out of all of us. This put doubts about the games fairness in most of our minds and it was abandoned, but it had succeeded in getting most of us fairly drunk. I know Bakura still had sense of mind because I remember him endeavouring to clear up a little for me in hopes that I wouldn't have as much work to get done the next day. I was still fairly sober, although I'm not sure if I could have walked a straight line, but I was sober enough to still remember more of the night. Tristan, as you would expect, still had all his wits about him and Yami still seemed to be fairly normal."

Yami nodded at this and stopped the narrative as Tea looked up at him, "So do you remember up to this point then?"

"Now that you mention it I do seem to remember that game yes," he seemed to ponder on this new occurrence, "it must be that I got so drunk in the latter part of the night that I forgot everything that happened in the first part too."

"It was funny though," Tea chuckled, "Yugi didn't have that many turns in the game itself and he still seemed to come out worst of us all."

Yugi coloured at this, "It's not my fault if I can't hold my liquor well is it. Anyway, do you remember what happened after that? We aren't here to discuss how quickly I can get drunk."

"Yes I do as a matter of fact," she tipped forward in her chair a little, "I remember what happened up until we went to Bakura's"

"We went to Bakura's? We thought we might have but didn't remember."

"Yes after a little while we went to Bakura's because I was starting to get a little too drunk to look after all of my furniture," she chuckled, "but we're not quite up to that point of the night yet. Would you like me to continue in the order that it all happened or just skip to then?"

"Continue in the correct order, the whole thing will fall into place if I can just remember everything that happened I'm sure of it," Yugi sat back again and made himself comfortable waiting for Tea to commence her telling of the events of the night before.

"That's fine by me," she stood up, "but I think I'm still a little dehydrated from all the consumption of that alcohol. Could anyone else do with a cup of tea before I recommence?"

Yami nodded his approval of this, "I think that would be best. After all, if we all drank that much alcohol last night that we can hardly remember what happened then it would be a good idea for us to drink something."

"I guess I could go for one right about now," Yugi almost grumbled, "but do you mind being as quick as possible? I want to try to get this whole mess cleared up so I can get my head round the fact that nothing happened last night."

"Nothing actually happened? Then why are you having me go through all this?"

"I don't know nothing happened," Yugi mumbled quietly, "I'm just sure of it. You know yourself when you get a feeling of something… so I'm just here to make sure that feeling is correct."

"Well… if that's the way you feel…" Tea looked unconvinced but didn't comment further, "I'll go and get us something to drink and the minute I get back I'll tell you the rest that I know, I promise."


	3. Chapter 3: I Never

**Protector Of The Nameless – I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so much. Yugi thinks he wants to believe that 'nothing happened'. Here is an update just for you, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last.**

Chapter 3: I Never

Once they were all settled back into their respective chairs and leaning comfortably back, their mugs of steaming tea nestled in their laps Tea looked back to them both and smiled. If they didn't remember what happened next then they certainly didn't remember what happened at Bakura's, the details of which she didn't quite remember herself, but she certainly did remember snippets, enough to know that everyone at least embarrassed themselves once during their time there.

"So should I continue now?" she knew what the answer would be before she asked, but Yugi was looking more and more disconcerted the more she talked and it was a rather funny predicament since he was normally so careful that no one could embarrass him on many accounts.

"Yes please do," his voice was sounding less sure of itself and his eyes were becoming misty as if he was desperately trying to remember some things before she came to them, trying unsuccessfully.

"Okay then," she leant back against the chair and smiled lightly, "well after we had finished with that game and everyone was a good deal drunker than they had been in the previous few hours we all split off into little groups and talked about random things for a while. I don't actually know what you were doing then Yugi. Yami was with Ryou and me but you just seemed to disappear for a while and I can't say what you were doing.

"We were having a conversation about how Ryou was getting on with living with Bakura now, as you well know we had all betted it wouldn't last more than a week, he'd either get tired of being around Bakura so much or Bakura would get tired of having his rather ruthless yami hanging over his shoulder all the time.

" "No, no," Ryou stuttered over his words, "I like living with Bakura, as annoyingly tidy as he can be sometimes he's actually fun to be around. But can I let you in on a little secret?" he seemed more than eager to tell whether we wanted to listen or not so Yami and me just leant forward slightly, "I think I'm in love with Bakura… I know I used to hate him and all, but how can you keep a hatred for someone so cute? Even I can't resist that smile when turned on me"

"I blinked, that wasn't what I had expected at all. I thought maybe it was just the alcohol talking, or some strange joke that Ryou thought was funny and nobody else got the real purpose of, but when I looked back at him he had that dreamy look that you can only get when in love and I had to believe him.

" "So did you tell Bakura yet?" he looked up at me shocked, the alcohol making that hit him a little harder than it should have, he looked completely flabbergasted.

" "Of course I haven't, what do think he would like me back after the way I used to treat him? I don't think so, I may come from ancient Egypt and not know how to work a microwave, but I sure as hell know when I've ruined my chances."

" "Perhaps not," Yami was the one to answer, "after all, you have apologised for that and we know that now you aren't who you used to be, if he hated you that much would he let you live with him? Would he have taught you how the world works, or shown you how to live in this time?"

"Ryou contemplated this for a few seconds, "Perhaps you're right, maybe I do have a chance, if only a small one," of course it was the alcohol giving him Dutch-courage that made him feel as if he could do anything about it, but whatever it was it was working well.

"Now by this time all conversation seemed to have turned to pretty much the same topic no matter who you listened to. Everyone in the room seemed to either be talking about a crush they had or listening to someone else talk about theirs. This seemed to amuse Tristan greatly, who was one of the still fairly sober ones. He stood in the centre of the room and smiled round at everyone, clapping his hands to gain attention.

" "Now, who's up for a game of 'I Never'" he found this greatly amusing as some of us cringed away whilst others smiled and nodded approval.

"I, wobbly on my feet as I was by this point, raised my hand, "I'm game, far be it from me to spoil anyone's fun, but could we use someone else's house? I can see myself getting very drunk and anyway, we're running out of alcohol."

"Bakura nodded, "We can go back to mine if you'd like?" he looked round at Ryou, who was now sat on the floor looking up at him as he spoke, "I've got alcohol, enough for a game of I Never, and I think if I leave it much later I won't be able to get him home."

"Some people chuckled at the reference to just how drunk Ryou was, he himself scowled lightly but couldn't quite control his fine motor functions long enough for it to have any real effect on anyone.

"After that I remember us all getting our things together as best we could, you had reappeared by then and were practically draped over Yami's arm, and heading out for the short walk to Bakura's. Once we got there I have little recollection of anything, bar little snippets of the game, I remember we did actually play it, and something to do with Seto, but apart from that I don't remember."

"How are we supposed to piece the whole night together if you can't remember the rest?" Yugi sounded slightly frustrated.

"Hey, I said I'd tell you what I could remember and I did, what more do you want me to do?" she sighed and gestured for him to calm down, "Bakura was still pretty sober by then, as was Tristan and Joey, perhaps one of them could fill in the blanks"

"Hmm," Yami nodded, "do you know where they are Taya?"

"Well if my memory serves me, which it might not do, but I don't recall them ever leaving Bakura's any of them," she scratched her head, "of course they could well have left after I did, but when I left they were all still there… I think."

Yugi looked round at Yami hopefully, "Can we go to Bakura's then?"

"I guess we have no choice," Yami smiled.

"I'll come with you," Tea stood, "I'd like to find out where this leads to, and anyway, I wouldn't mind knowing the rest of last night either."

They all walked round to Bakura's, Yami wondering if anyone would even be up yet but going anyway, there was no dissuading Yugi now anyway so he may as well keep his mouth shut until they arrived. The walk was short but Yugi was in so much of a hurry they seemed to make it there in record time despite that. Knocking on the door of the large house, Yugi bounced on his heals impatiently as he waited for someone to answer the door. When someone did it wasn't at all who he had been expecting. Seto stood there, looking more refreshed than any of the three visitors and stood back to allow them to walk in.

"Is Bakura in?" Yugi didn't even take time out for a hello, "or Joey or Tristan?"

Seto looked unimpressed with the sudden invasion, "Joey went back to Mai's last night, Tristan is still sleeping on the dining room floor, but Bakura and Ryou are both in the living room if you'd like to go and talk with them."

Yugi waved his thanks and quickly scuttled off, leaving Tea and Yami to give apologetic smiles before wandering after him. Seto followed them anyway, obviously interested to see what all the urgency was.

Bakura was sat between Ryou's outstretched legs on the sofa, his head lying on Ryou's shoulder and Ryou's arms wrapped lightly round his hips. Taya had to stifle the need to aaaw at them and perched herself on the arm of the chair Yami had chosen to take refuge in. Bakura looked up, his eyelids heavy and mumbled a sleepy hello as they all entered the room. He stretched his arms and sat up slightly, then decided he favoured the position he had relinquished and slid back down to where he had been.

"Can I help you?" he questioned politely, whereas Ryou, not being so polite, scowled at the intrusion.

"I have a favour to ask of you," Yugi looked apologetic but he still needed to get to the bottom of this, "I don't really remember anything that happened last night and it's important that I do. Tea has already run through everything that happened at her place but she can't really remember what happened once we got here, do you think you could fill us in?"

"I can try," Bakura looked thoughtful, "I stayed fairly sober all night so I think I can probably fill in the rest for you, why is it that important?"

"Because we woke up in bed together this morning and he wants to know what happened," Yami supplied for them.

"So did we," Ryou deadpanned, "your point?"

Bakura nudged him lightly in the ribs and smiled, "Well I'll help as much as I can, lets see, you know everything up to when you got here?"

"Yes," Tea nodded, "I remembered all that myself, but I don't really remember anything after that."

"Well, after we got here Joey went in search of as much alcohol as he could find, which was quite an amount considering the fact that I tend to stash it for just such an occasion, and we all sat in a circle. Tristan had previously announced a game of I Never and that idea seemed to have grown on people as the time passed until everyone was willing to play once it was set. We let Tristan have a turn first since it was his idea.

" "I never…"he thought for a moment, "I never had a crush on Yami."

"He smiled triumphantly as Tea, Mai and Yugi all downed a shot. Next in the circle was Yami himself and he already seemed to know what he was going to say.

" "I never slept with Joey," this causing Mai, Tea, Tristan and surprisingly Seto to all down a shot each and go red.

" "I never went out dressed as a woman just to get into a club that I wanted to investigate," Joey smiled triumphantly as Yugi downed a shot and there were questions floating round as to what exactly had happened in that situation but no explanation was given.

" "I never ordered someone to strip because I was bored of the entertainment at that time," Ryou looked up as if he wasn't aware of who was going to have to take the wrap for that one.

" "That was a long time ago," Yami mumbled, downing a shot and sticking out his tongue.

" "I never got kicked out of Pepsi Blue for trying to come onto one of the bouncers at the door," Seto chuckled.

" "Mokuba isn't here," Mai answered looking around shocked as Tea put the glass to her lips, Seto just smiled and nodded his agreement of this.

" "I never nearly burnt down the house the first time I tried to use the oven," Yugi almost pondered the sentence, Yami and Ryou both clicking glasses together before downing their penalties.

" "And I never had to spend the night in a prison cell for going to a fairground wearing nothing but my underwear because of a dare I was given," Joey chuckled as everyone looked up in surprise, obviously expecting that if anyway would have done that it would have been him. Tristan and Mai both clinked glasses and chuckled, obviously having expected that one to be brought up.

" "Hey, it wasn't your turn," Ryou jabbed as he watched the two drink their shots.

" "Who cares? I had one and no one else spoke up," Joey looked indignant and happy at the same time, something only someone who's drunk can manage.

" "Yeah and it was a good one," Yugi chuckled, "did you two really do that?"

" "Sure did," Mai laughed and tried to stand but wobbled and ended up sprawling on top of Joey who had been sat opposite her. Joey took the opportunity to snatch a kiss, lending the idea to Ryou, who swung and did the same to me and everyone dispersed and the game was forgotten, after all it's hard to keep a bunch of drunken people concentrating on a game like that for more than half an hour.

"After that Yugi disappeared for a good half hour and when he did return everyone had split to their own groups and where having conversations about things only drunks can find interesting."


	4. Chapter 4: The Bottom of Things

**Shamise – Thank you ******

**Li – Yes I realise that now but this story was written quite a number of years ago long before I had ever heard Bakura named or watched the Japanese version of the anime, I left it since it was too much of a pain to change now and he's not a very important character in this story**

Chapter 4: The Bottom of Things

Yugi looked thoughtful for a second, "You know I kind of remember that now you mention it."

"Good thing too," Bakura looked over at him, "because I was with Ryou and Malik after that and I have no clue what happened."

"I still don't remember," Yami looked over to Yugi, "is it starting to fall into place now?"

Yugi nodded, "We discussed the effects of alcohol I think… yes that was it. Joey and Tristan joined us and were hardly able to stand so we went and sat behind one of the chairs under the window and we talked about how it was funny that when people were drunk they couldn't stand properly," he thought for a moment, "after that… I'm pretty sure someone asked who it was we all had crushes on. Joey was certain that Bakura had a crush on Ryou and visa versa."

He looked up at Bakura with a sheepish grin, "I suppose he was right, unless you two were just too drunk to know better last night?"

"No," Bakura shook his head his cheeks colouring, "as I said, I stayed relatively sober for the entire night so I knew well what I was doing, it's just, well Ryou was so drunk that I was worried to leave him on his own."

"Sure," Ryou looked at his nails with interest, "blame it all on the yami, its not like I woke with you lying against my chest or anything is it now?"

Bakura coloured further, "Well, we did not come here to discuss what we got up to last night I don't believe."

"No we didn't," Tea giggled, "but it sure is interesting isn't it?"

Yami waved a hand saving Bakura from further embarrassment; "Do you remember anything that happened after that? I mean we must have gone home at some point or else we wouldn't have woken up in bed."

"Oh, yes there's more," Yugi looked up as someone entered the room. It was Tristan, looking very groggy his hair dishevelled and his eyes red.

"What you all doing here?" he asked looking round, "I don't remember inviting you to my house."

Bakura chuckled, "You're in my house Tristan," he waved a hand round to accentuate his point, "and you're here because you didn't think you'd make it home well last night after the amount you drank."

Tea nodded and Tristan looked round again as if to make sure they weren't lying to him then shrugged and sat on the floor, his back against the arm of one of the chairs.

"Now I remember talking for quite some time," Yugi continued, "I don't know about what exactly, it all just seems to phase together at that point. I probably wouldn't even remember if it had been a normal night. Anyway, that doesn't matter, yes we did go home at some point, I think it must have been about four AM by the time we left."

"I don't remember how or why we decided we were going home, but I do remember asking Seto if I could use his cell phone to call a taxi and him saying no and then giving it to me anyway."

"I don't remember making the call but I do remember that Joey decided Yami's lap was a pillow and wouldn't get up when the taxi came."

"Oh I remember that too," Tea chuckled, "he'd put his head in Yami's lap and refused to even move saying we were only saying it was Yami's lap so that we could steal his pillow and we weren't going to have it."

"Yeah," Yugi laughed and nodded, "it took about four of us to prise him off too. Well then I know we went home and upstairs to bed, I think we both walked into the same room, we must have or we wouldn't have been in the same bed, but why we stayed there I'm not sure."

"Maybe it wasn't intentional," Bakura thought aloud, "if you both followed each other into the same room maybe you just got in bed and went to sleep, maybe you didn't do anything at all and you just went to sleep. I mean you were both drunk and tired so perhaps you just went to sleep and didn't realise you were both there until the morning."

Yami shook his head, "I'm pretty sure it was more than that, at least I think it was."

"But if you don't know anything, if you can't remember how would you know it was more than that?" Yugi looked over to him with large inquisitive violet eyes; "Bakura's reasoning sounds perfectly logical to me."

"Yes it does," Yami agreed, "and I don't know what happened hence why I haven't told you, but I get this feeling that there was much more to it than that."

"Because," Yugi accused, "you weren't drunk at all were you? At least not that drunk and you remember everything that went on, don't you Yami?"

"Hu?" Tea looked over at Yami wonderingly, "is that true Yami?"

"Well I…" he looked down at the floor and scuffed his toe against the carpet, "I guess it is really. I didn't get all that drunk I knew most of the things that went on, I just needed my memory refreshing as to some parts of it, the parts were I was fairly drunk."

"Well then why didn't you say so?" Tea looked confused, "if you knew what went on all this time why have us sit and go through it step by step to try to figure out what happened? Why not just say exactly what it was that you did and be done with it?"

"Well I wanted the rest of the pieces filling in for me to make sure that I had my facts right, after all what I _know _may not have been the truth, I could have dreamt it, I was drunk after all, perhaps not paralytic like the rest of you but I was drunk."

"So what really happened?" Tea sat forward in her seat, "if more than just that happened what did you do?"

"Oh we didn't do anything, just slept, but what I meant was that we didn't just stay in the same room because we happened to walk in there, sure I did walk into the wrong room at first but that was to make sure that Yugi got to his bed safely, I didn't have any intention to staying in there for the night. Well when I went to leave Yugi grabbed my arm and said he wanted me to stay, I asked if he meant until he was in bed but he said no he wanted me to stay in the room for the night. Well I didn't want to upset him after all there's absolutely no harm in us sharing a bed, we did share a body for a long time. So I stayed in his room for the night. And that's the whole truth nothing more happened between us and we just slept for the rest of the night," Yami stopped for a second to think it over, "Wait. If you knew that I wasn't so drunk when we got home and that I would know then you must remember yourself. And if that's all that did happen, and I know it is, then how _did _you get that bruise?"

Everyone turned to look at Yugi, "Oh I remember the whole night," he smiled sweetly, "you see when I disappeared for those half hours I was taking a walk to sober back up again and I didn't drink all that much in the first place, I just acted drunk because the atmosphere got to me."

"Then why…?" Yami looked confused.

"I wanted you to admit what happened last night because I wanted to see your thoughts on it without me having to ask to get them out of you, if I had just asked outright you would have just said what you thought I wanted to hear."

"My thoughts," Yami pondered for a moment, "well it was nice. Nice to share something again, although I like having my own body and not having to burden you with myself all the time I miss you."

"Exactly," Yugi nodded, "and that's why I did it. I miss having you around all the time, even though you always are around and we hardly do anything apart I still miss the intimacy of sharing the same body, the same mind."

"You two sound like us," Ryou cut in, "that's the exact reason that we started a relationship," he chuckled as Bakura coloured, "we may not have been the best of friends when we did share the same body but now that we don't we miss one another, so we decided to always be together. Frankly I'm surprised it took the two of you this long, after all you were much closer than we were originally."

"Oh we're not…" Yami protested, thinking Ryou had caught the wrong end of the stick.

"You're not?" Ryou looked over at Yugi, "well then you should really think about changing your mind, I've seen the way the squirt looks at you."

Yugi blushed fiercely but nodded his ascent anyway.

"You would? You want to?" Yami's cheeks were tinged with a slight colour themselves; "well then why didn't you just say so?"

"Well I didn't know if you felt the same way, so I thought that maybe if I did all this I could finally find out, only it comes down to me asking you outright anyway because you're so unyielding with your thoughts and such a mystery that even I can't fathom you."

"Well of course I will," Yami leant over and brushed a finger down Yugi's cheek smiling, "of course I'll be yours, I always was after all, I just thought you already knew that."

Yugi smiled and tilted his head, putting his hand to the back of Yami's neck and pulling him forward. Their lips met gently and they savoured their first kiss, the others looking on in awe and wondering exactly why it _had _taken them so long to realise it.

'No matter,' Tea thought, 'it's sorted now. On to Joey and Tristan I guess.'

After a few moments Yami pulled back and looked Yugi straight in the eyes, "Just one more think," he inquired.

"Mmm?" Yugi looked like he didn't care right now so long as they didn't have to stop for too long.

"You never did say where you got that bruise from, I know it wasn't me."

Yugi coloured, "Well, actually, I… erm, I got it from Mai… she cornered me leaving to go out to sober up when we were at Bakura's and asked where I was going, so I said I needed some air and she said that I looked rather tasty and bit me… it was already there so I thought I'd use it, I don't know what came over her really."

"That sounds like Mai to me, hahaha," Yami smiled at him and bent back down again.

**A.N. Thank you to everyone who reads and enjoys this story and especially to those of you who take the time to review. If you like this one there are a lot more on my own website than on . Please visit me at velvetcurse .tripod .com (remove the spaces)**


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